Vegetarian help please Vegetarians answer only.?

Question

im 14 and decided to become a vegetarian on monday. My question is: What other foods can't I eat?
I know I cant eat meat and any seafood. but are there any other foods i cant eat for some reason like any slaughterhouse products
oh yeah and i remember a question on here that asked is vegetarians could eat animal crackers? and at first i thought they were trying to make fun of vegetarians but then i thought about it and it is representing an animal but i dont see a problem because u know ur not eating a real animal or anything so tell me what u think

Answer 1

First of all, good for you.

Besides animal flesh, watch for rennet (used to coagulate some cheeses); gelatin (the hooves, bones, and hides of ainmals) -- and thank you for reminding me of pepsin and isinglass (fish gelatin).

While certainly not vegan, insect byproducts are considered vegetarian. These include honey, beeswax, royal jelly, propolis, carmine (crushed female cochineal beetles), shellac. And watch out for food glaze or confectioner's glaze--it's usually some buggy secretion. Ick!

Animal crackers, as long as they don't have lard or animal fat in them, should be fine. Even ovo-lacto vegetarians should read labels. My o-l boyfriend bought a package of snack cakes from a vending machine (always a dangerous proposition when you're veg*an) and when I read the label out of morbid curiosity, I was shocked to see that beef fat could possibly be in there (you know those labels that say "one or more of the following"?).

And it bears repeating that vegetarians do NOT eat fish!!! Anyone who says they can eat fish gets an automatic thumbs down from me no matter how good the rest of the answer is.

Answer 2

People ask the animal cracker thing because they think it is funny or to aggravate vegetarians. Don't pay any attention to that. As long as the cookies have vegetable shortening you don't have to worry.

Every vegetarian has a different level of pickiness. Some eat milk and eggs and cheese (Lacto-ovo vegetarians). Some don't eat anything connected to animals (vegans). Probably easier to start out eliminating and replacing slowly and gradually, but that is up to you. Since you are still growing, I would recommend taking a supplemental vitamin/mineral.

I was a vegetarian for about 20 yrs (mostly lacto-ovo vegetarian or junk food vegetarian). I got cancer and started back eating meat to keep my blood protein levels up during chemo, and now it is hard to get back to where I was.

You could look for animal shortening and/or lard in baked goods.That is about as far as I got on the path.

Vegan can be very healthy, if harder to accomplish...you could try the level of avoiding milk products, cheese and eggs or go farther into avoiding honey(affects bees), sugar (filterted thru animal bone char), and other things.

Answer 3

You need to read ingredient lists. Many convenience foods that appear to be veg are not - chicken fat, chicken powder, chicken flavoring, beef fat, beef powder and beef flavoring are common even in something that doesn't appear to need a little dead animal added for flavor. Another one to look for is gelatin, which is made from bone marrow; it's in a lot of candy, yogurt, sour cream and many other products (and of course, that means no jello!) You want to pick your cheeses carefully as well. Most are made with rennet which is from the lining of a calf's stomach. You can find cheeses labeled "rennet-free" or made with vegetable rennet and these are vegetarian.

Lacto-ovo vegetarians keep eggs and dairy in their diets. Lacto vegetarians give up the eggs but keep the dairy. Vegans or total vegetarians don't eat any animal products whatsoever, even honey. So, you need to decide what type of veg you want to be.

As for the animal crackers, most of those people ARE trying to make fun of vegetarians and/or they think they are terribly clever even though the question has been asked 200+ times. As with any food, read the ingredient label. If they're shortened with lard (beef fat) they're not vegetarian. If there's no animal products, they're fine. Even if they were shaped like a steak, it's only the ingredients you need to be concerned about!

Edit to add based on American's answer: meat is not a significant source of vitamins. There's some B vitamins in there, but nothing you can't replace with a balanced veg diet. Meat is primarily a source of protein and saturated fat. The protein is easily replaceable if you're eating well and your heart won't miss the sat fat at all!

Answer 4

Were you planning on being a vegetarian and just not eating meat products or are you wanting to be a vegan and not eat anything that comes from animals. If vegan you have to stay away from the same vegetarian things but ALSO stuff like milk, of course eggs, just anything that it made in part from an animal. One very important thing to becoming a vegetarian is to make sure you get the vitamins that you are going to start lacking from not eating meat. there are lots of ways to supplement for the vitamins that are missing.

Answer 5

Why are you directing questions at "carnivores" if you don't expect them to answer? That seems kinda weird (i.e., hypocritical) to me.... As others have said, and as has been covered countless times before (type "why meat eater vegetarian section" in the Search function on top of page and you'll find scores of pages of the same question), this is an open forum in which anyone can participate so long as they abide by Yahoo Answers guidelines. For every veg*n there are several ex-veg*ns, and they should be able to share their experiences. Many new or aspiring veg*ns come to this section for advice and are ironically often chastised for being trolls, particularly by "Top Contributor" JenD. But it would be unfair to only present one side of what is a significant lifestyle change. If you want to participate in a veg*n only forum, then you have come to the wrong place. Go to VegSource, 30 bananas a day, or the like, where dissenting opinions are not tolerated nor in most cases even see the light of day.

Answer 6

I'm a pesco vegetarian. That means I only eat fish, and not other animals. Basically, a being a vegetarian means that you do not eat beef, chicken, seafood, or other foods that are made directly from an animal (foods that would cause an animal to die in order for someone to be able to eat it.) Vegans do not eat anything that comes from an animal, like milk and eggs and honey and cheese. An ovo lacto vegetarian is basically a Vegan who eats eggs and milk products. There are many kinds of Vegetarian, and you have to decide for yourself what foods you will feel comfortable eating. If you want to still eat chicken, you can be a pesco vegetarian. If you still have any questions, you can send me an email.

Answer 7

Vegetarians dont eat meat, howevr how far you go with this is totally your choice and is influced by many things mostly your reasons into turning Vegetarian.
first you need to ask yourslf whay, helth? protecting the earth? dont like meat? trying to annoy/be liked somone?
there are Vegetarians who dont eat meat, red meat, fishes and/or sea food. there are Vegetarians who dont eat food that had been cooked with meat, that was cooked in oil that was olready used in order to cook meat and there are does who dont eat any things with gelatin ( gelatin desserts, jelly, trifles, aspic, marshmallows, and confectioneries such as Peeps and gummy bears. it may also be used in ice cream, jams, yogurt, cream cheese, and margarine; it is used, as well, in fat-reduced foods to simulate the mouth feel of fat and to create volume without adding calories. it is used for the clarification of juices, such as apple juice, and of vinegar). or you may wish to be vegan. things are much clearer in this deprtmant. nothing that comes from any thing alive, clothes, milk, eggs, cosmetics products that were tasted on animals and more. of course some Vegetarians take things from vegan and dont take evry thing that i wrote here. basiclly vegetarianism is not to eat meat, but how far you take it is your choice. but dont forget that as a Vegetarian you most take care of what you eat so you wont have any absences and become sick. also you should go to blood tests from time to time to make sure you are allright.

Answer 8

You need to look out for any foods containing geletin,[like marshmellows, a lot of candies, and other food], and any natural beef flavorings [IN MCDONALDS FRIES] dont eat mcdonalds fries, they contain beef tallow which is beef fat

. and yes, vegetarians may eat animal crackers haha.


good luck

Answer 9

Watch out for things like jello (hoof), pie crusts and cookies, etc. with lard in them, some pizza crusts with lard, cheeses with rennet (cow stomach), McDonald's fries (beef tallow), just read labels and learn about what comes from animals...

Answer 10

My friend gave me this list of not-so-obvious ingredients that are slaughter by-products (meaning that you have to kill the animal to get these ingredients). The examples under each ingredient are just some examples -- it is not an exhaustive list of foods that contain these slaughter by-products, so you have to check labels. I keep a post-it note with the list of ingedients in my wallet so that I always have it handy when I go grocery shopping.

Gelatin
* frosted mini wheats
* starburst
*skittles
*planters dry roasted peanuts
*lucky charms

Lard
* pillsbury pie crusts
* ortega refried beans
*bush's BBQ baked beans

Carmine (cochnieal extract or carminic acid - beetles)
* dole's peaches in strawberry all natural fruit gel
*yoplait thick and creamy lowfat strawberry yogurt
*tropicana orange strawberry banana juice
*wegman's fruit cocktail
*kikkoman sweet & sour sauce
*some applesauce, fruit drinks, puddings

Isinglass (protein from fish air bladders)
*guinness stout
*bass ale
*foster's lager
*boddingtons ale
*some sam adams

Vitamin D3 or cholecalciferol (additive made from fish oils or oil from sheep wool)
*some milk and margarine
*florida naturals fortified orange juice
*america's choice milk
*horizon organic milk
*promise light margarine

Rennet
*denmark's finest dill havarti
*tine jarlsberg semi-soft part-skim cheese
*president fresh goat cheese
*francesco rinaldi's tomato, garlic and onion pasta sauce
*classico four cheese pizza sauce
*these are ok: horizon organic cheddar, boar's head colby, land o'lakes mozzarella, organic valley monterey jack and check out cheese.joyousliving.com/Default.aspx

Pepsin (a clotting agent from pigs' stomachs)
*used in some cheeses and vitamins

Stearic Acid (a fatty substance from pigs' stomachs, or from cows, sheep, or dogs and cats euthenized in animal shelters)
*used in some chocolate and vitamins

Cetyl Palmitate (waxy oil derived from sperm whales' heads or from dolphins)
* used in some margarines

Urea (comes from urine and other "bodily fluids")
*used for "browning" some baked goods, such as pretzels